More success for Knight’s Choice after fairytale Melbourne Cup win

By Andrew Smith

Knight’s Choice delivered a Melbourne Cup fairytale for his connections in 2024, and it was another accolade that proved to be the perfect birthday gift for co-trainer John Symons. 

Queensland’s first ever winner of the great race was anointed Champion Stayer of the Year at yesterday’s 2024/25 Australian Racehorse Awards ceremony at The Star Brisbane.

Speaking alongside wife and co-trainer Sheila Laxon, Symons, who turned 69 yesterday, said the award was yet another deserving plaudit for the Sunshine State’s first-ever Melbourne Cup winner.

“It’s fantastic – Queensland won the AFL, we’ve won the Origin shield, and we won the Melbourne Cup, it doesn’t get much better than that,” Symons said.

Laxon added: “It was fantastic for Queensland, they’d never won a Melbourne Cup before and Queensland are real go-getters.

“Some of the best sportsman will come out of Queensland, and we’re very pleased to be part of the journey.

“We trained the mother (Midnight Pearl) and everybody said, ‘no, Knight’s Choice won't win the Melbourne Cup.’

“We said ‘watch us,’ and that’s the Queensland way of saying we're going to do this - we don't have any restrictions, we don't have any boundaries, we can do what we think is best, and it was a fantastic achievement.”

The Sunshine Coast-based couple were joined on stage by jockey Robbie Dolan who was on board Knight’s Choice for last year’s famous victory.

Laxon recalled how a chance meeting with the Irishman on a Melbourne Cup cruise in 2022 paved the way for the fairytale pairing three years later.

“Robbie was singing, and I was doing the Melbourne Cup spruik, and I went up to talk to him - he didn't know who I was, and probably thought I was an old cougar,” Laxon said with a laugh.

“We started talking and I got to understand how much he wanted the opportunity to show how good he was, and I think if it hadn't been for that, we probably wouldn't have put him on.

“I actually said to him at the time, ‘if I ever have a horse in the Melbourne Cup, you're riding it,' because I knew how much he wanted it, and it was just extraordinary how the whole thing panned out.

“It was great for John and for all the team – an $85,000 Australian purchase has gone on and won the race that everyone in the world competes for.

“Those are the sort of fairy tales that Australians need to listen to and to think we can do this, and to me that’s the best part of the whole Cup.”

Knight’s Choice has not raced since last year’s Melbourne Cup triumph but recently won his first trial back in Bendigo after a spell.

The co-trainers are still set on this month’s Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington before a Melbourne Cup defence.

“We're heading that way, we just hope the tracks stay firm for him and we're very happy with where he's at,” Laxon said.

Symons added: “We are very happy where he's at, at the moment, so if everything holds together…who knows, maybe it's another Queenslander.”

Back-to-back Cox Plates also remain firmly on the cards for Via Sistina following the mighty mare’s crowning as the Australian Racehorse of the Year.

Champion trainer Chris Waller was on hand to accept the award off the back of the star galloper’s historic seven Group 1 victories, which equalled his former star Winx’s record of the most top-flight races won in a single season.

“It's a huge, huge feat to follow, we will just take one race at a time…she started back so well, winning the Winx Stakes so that sets the scene, but you need so much to help you,” Waller said.

“You need a great team, which we've got, and you need things to just keep falling your way, and then a little bit of racing luck as well.

“And you need to hope that the opposition doesn't get better, because there's some stars on the horizon that we're seeing starting to emerge through the spring…that'll tell the story this time next year.

“It's a great privilege and it's a long year Australian racing, and there's so many horses that race week in, week out at the elite level.

“To sustain it for one Group 1, and then at the end of the preparation, have a break, come back in the autumn, keep doing what you have to do to win a Horse of the Year is quite remarkable.

“It's a well-deserved honour for an amazing horse.”

It was a day to remember for Waller, also taking home a 13^th successive Bart Cummings Award for Champion Group 1 Trainer

The master trainer paid homage to the Sunshine State in a season where he broke his own record at the topflight with an astounding 19 Group 1 victories.

“The first couple of titles, I think we just thought they were flukes - obviously great horses propel the numbers, and we've got a lot of great horses, but it's only made possible from an amazing team,” Waller said.

“We're at the Gold Coast, we're at Flemington, and we're in Sydney, and each of those stables play a big part in those numbers.

“The last one that broke the record was Joliestar up here in Queensland at the Kingsford Smith Cup.

“It's a long, long road and a lot of hard work, and that makes me pretty proud.

“I don't set goals, believe it or not - I think it puts too much pressure on myself, my team and the horses but we take racing seriously 52 weeks of the year, and we always try and improve so we've got to keep lifting the bar and keep working hard.”

Capping off the day for Waller was the elevation of his former superstar Winx to ‘Legend’ status in the Hall of Fame, alongside Black Caviar.

The champion mare won all of her last 33 races, including an extraordinary four Cox Plates, three Queen Elizabeth Stakes, four George Ryder Stakes and four Chipping Norton Stakes. 

Waller revealed he had paid a visit to the champion mare in the Hunter Valley last week as he reflected on her remarkable career.

“She looks amazing and just a really special horse to show that dreams are achievable on racetracks, and she delivered the dream to so many people,” Waller said.

“She just did everything that you wouldn't think was believable and same as a mum, she's had her challenges, but keeps fighting and keeps doing her best.

“I remember when she first was inducted into the Hall of Fame, it was a huge achievement and she was still racing so it put a bit of pressure on her to go around as a Hall of Fame racehorse, and she even won the Winx Stakes in her name.

“The Legend status, there's not many up there, but in the modern era, her and Black Caviar and Makybe Diva - what they've done for modern day racing is quite remarkable.

“They’re household names, and that's what we need, and that's what we need to respect.

“We're all here because of the horse, and we give them the best of care, the best of attention, but even the horse welfare has been well looked after.

“But among all those horses, there's a few stars, and Winx is certainly one of them.”

Click here to read more about all the winners from the Australian Racehorse Awards.